Home
by ComicBookNerdsKickAss
Summary: Rey and Ben keep connecting via the Force. While Rey tries to reach out and make amends between them, Ben is determined to keep his distance so he's not hurt again. Reylo angst. TRIGGER WARNING: Past and present suicidal Ben Solo.
1. Locked Out

**A/N: So I didn't really ship anyone (except StormPilot!) after TFA and once TLJ came out I tried not to ship Reylo, seriously I tried really hard not to... but I do. I couldn't help myself, I was seduced by their Force Bond. So here's my contribution to the fandom.**

* * *

The first time it happens after Crait, it's been a long few weeks where they've both tried (desperately but rather unsuccessfully) to not think about each other. Suddenly Rey finds herself staring at his broad cloak covered back as he hunches over a table, data tablet in his hand. He freezes in place and turns just enough to see her in his peripheral vision, and when he realizes she's on the other side of the room he returns his attention back to the screen in front of him but he keeps himself angled enough to keep her in the edges of his sight.

He doesn't speak or even fully look at her, just ignores her. She expected rage or sadness, what she's wasn't expecting was indifference. It stings more than Rey wants to admit.

She watches him for a while in silence, trying to find the words to bridge the distance between them. She's not exactly sure what she wants from him, only that she wants to feel the same closeness that they had when their hands touched and she doesn't want to call him an enemy.

"Ben?" He tenses at his birth name coming from her lips and she feels a ripple in the Force. _'That's not my name.'_ It's his angry voice that booms in her head, and Rey isn't sure if he's actually acknowledged her or if his thought was simply loud. She opens her mouth again to say anything but stops when he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. She smiles a little, thinking even if he yells at her at least they're communicating, it's step one in figuring things out.

Her smile drops when she feels him tug on the bond and before she can breathe out a single syllable of protest he's slammed a wall down on her. It's far more jarring to be shut out forcefully than for the connection to simply end naturally. Rey follows the thread of their bond only to come to a dead end. She probes at it a few times before finally giving up. He's blocked her out quite effectively for now, not even echoes of feelings are coming through.

With a sigh of loneliness, Rey returns her consciousness back to the Falcon and the Resistance on board. There will be no bridges built today.

It happens again a week later and this time he shuts her out before she can fully get her bearings. One moment she's running forms with her staff, and then they are face to face. She barely registers his surprise before he's glaring at her and then she's back in her own space again. Truthfully it makes her a little sick to her stomach, all the back and forth like whiplash, even though she technically hasn't moved a muscle.

It keeps happening every few days or so. Unlike the first time he never gives her a chance to speak, now that he knows he can shut it off he wastes no time in doing so. Each time Rey finds the experience of being flung from his mind both jarring and heart breaking.

* * *

It's been less than a day since their last connection, and when Rey finds herself looking at Ben's profile, he's talking. His deep voice throws her because it's clear he's not talking to her but it's the first time they've connected when they aren't alone. He doesn't even glance her way, the only reason she knows he knows she's there is the way his hands clench into fists. He stops talking and she watches him nod, clearly listening to someone else. His focus shifts across the space in front of him.

 _'He's in a meeting.'_ Rey realizes with a start as she continues watching and cautiously edges closer. _'I wonder if I can hear anything useful for the Resistance.'_ Without warning Ben shoots up from his seat, though his words are surprisingly calm.

"Excuse me for a moment, there is something most urgent that has come up through the Force. Continue without me, General Hux will fill me in on what I missed." He doesn't wait for a reply, just exits the room and goes straight to his personal quarters with Rey on his heels. He finally faces her as soon as the door is shut behind them.

"Get out of my head!" He growls at her, eyes blazing with fury and betrayal. Rey knows her earlier thought was wrong but it was also so tempting. She's not sure she would have actually gone through with it but the thought was still there.

"Ben I-"

"That is not my fucking name!" He shouts at her, chest heaving with barely contained rage.

"Please, just listen!" She wants them to talk but not like this, not if he won't listen to her.

"No. Just go away!"

"I won't leave it like this."

"Why not? You already walked away once easily enough. You made your choice and it wasn't me! Just stay gone!"

"Why? Because I make you feel something besides rage!"

"You make me feel nothing but disgust and hate. Now stay out of my head Jedi." The words have their desired effect, for the first time since Crait she ends the connection. Her eyes are broken as they are dislodged from each other's presence.

Rey leans back against the wall of the Falcon, feeling numb.

Disgust and hate. That's what he feels when he thinks of her now, when he looks at her. The idea that he doesn't feel the same way she does anymore is nearly physically painful. Yes when they parted ways on Crait she was angry with him and disappointed and hurt but she did not feel disgust or hatred. She's not sure how long she sits on the floor forcing back her tears when Leia comes in, looking concerned.

"I've tried to stay out of this but I felt a disturbance in the Force and it led me here." Leia pauses before pushing forward with her words. "I've also been sensing Ben lately but only faintly. Rey, what's going on?"

Rey doesn't make a conscious choice to tell Leia but the whole story comes pouring out none the less. By the time she's finished both women are crying openly and Leia finally tells Rey that Ben didn't take the shot at her ship.

"He didn't?"

"I sensed him and I know he sensed me as well but I know he didn't shoot. After Han," Leia pauses, grief etched across her face. "I thought my son was lost to me. I'm ashamed to admit that I lost hope in my boy but in the last few weeks I've come to know that Ben is still in there. He may call himself Kylo Ren right now but he's still Ben. My son is not gone."

"You have to talk to him, maybe you'll have better luck than I did. He hates me."

Rey is surprised to see Leia smile kindly at her through her tears. "Oh my dear, sweet girl. Ben has always felt his emotions strongly, overwhelmingly so but he's never been very good at expressing his emotions. Even as a child, his go to for anything that wasn't happiness was anger. I know now that was mostly Snoke but I also know he is his mother's son. I was a princess once, as I'm sure you know but I was never that dainty flower people assumed I should be. I am now and have been for a long time Leia Organa, The Huttslayer, and I am angry. I always have been." Rey looks at Leia in surprise as a familiar spark of anger radiates off her. His mother's son indeed.

"Now you know why I refused to train as a Jedi with Luke. I knew their philosophy, and I wasn't willing to risk my soul or those I love for the chance to lift rocks and fight with a laser sword. Besides I had a new Republic to build, and Han. And eventually Ben." Leia's eyes look far away as though she's reliving those early days with Han and Ben. She shakes her head as though to clear her mind of the past.

"Back to my son. He doesn't hate you, because if he did he would be hunting you down." The words 'like he tried to do with Luke' hang in the air and while Leia can't fault her son's feelings after what Luke almost did, she wishes her son and brother had parted on better terms. "But he's not. He's avoiding you and lashing out at you because he's hurting. Rey you make him feel like the man he wants to be and not the monster Snoke tried to make him into. I can't ask you to keep trying to reach him, only you can decide if Ben is worth that to you. All I can ask is the next time you see him, tell him I love him and would like him to come home."

"He is... worth it to me. Ben Solo is not gone, only lost on his path home and I will bring him back." Leia feels a burst of hope shake the very foundation of the Force. If anyone can help her son find his way home it is this woman in front of her. This woman who has seen the very worst of her son and still found him worthy of her trust and affection.

"Get some rest Rey, if you plan on taking on my son's stubborn ways you are going to need it."

"No, he's going to need it. I don't give up." Leia smiles again, eyes shining with hope once more as she rises. She cups Rey's cheek and a flood of affection flows between them through the Force. They have loved the same people in different ways, across two lifetimes. They are linked through those attachments, through the affection they feel for each other, and through the Force.

Leia leaves Rey in peace to think about things. Her own pain and anger has dulled but it is not gone. While she is determined to help him come home, Ben Solo still needs to do the work himself. The first step is the two of them making amends with each other. She can't help him if they aren't communicating. Rey briefly considers reaching out to him immediately but quickly shoots down the idea. He's probably still seething from their earlier encounter and even if she manages to get through the wall that he no doubt put up as soon as she ended their connection, all that will happen is Ben lashing out again. No it's better to give him time, let him cool down and then try talking again. This time she'll need to find a way to keep the connection open, regardless of him trying to close it.


	2. Sneaking In

**A/N: Once again, Trigger Warning. Suicidal Ben Solo in this chapter. I can't imagine that Ben, and the intensity in which he feels everything, isn't somewhat suicidal. I don't want him to be but I think he is to a degree.**

* * *

So Rey waits, and she reads the old Jedi texts, or at least the parts that she can understand. She gives him a full week before she reaches out tentatively, trying to brush her mind against his. She's met with a steel wall. She tries again the next day with the same result. She keeps trying and idly wonders if he can feel her trying to get through to him. If he does, he doesn't give anything away.

One night not long after she's fallen asleep, a nightmare plagues her resting hours. It is decidedly not her own nightmare as Ben's worst memories twist together inside both their minds. She sees these horrors and scarring events from Ben's eyes. Luke eyes tinted green as he brings the lightsaber down on him, Han waving as the Falcon's door closes on him, Leia's retreating form as she leaves him with C3-PO yet again, his father's eyes as he takes his last breath, his mind being painfully pried open and emptied out by Snoke in the name of training, her own eyes glaring at him from across the Throne room as they fight for the Skywalker lightsaber, the screams as he and his Knights of Ren decimate the Jedi Temple, and so much more. All this twists together with Snoke's whispering in the background, telling him he's weak, childish, foolish, and not enough. Then everything goes still, and she sees his large hands turning a lightsaber round and round before he presses it to his chest. His thumb hovers over the small button that would release the blade into his heart.

Rey jerks up in bed with a cry when his thumb presses down on the button. She searches the space around her with her eyes while clawing at the unblemished skin over her heart. With a start Rey jumps out of her bed and reaches out across the galaxy to him, finding the thread of their bond she forces it open with no other thought than making sure his heart is still beating. She finds him leaning against a small table in his quarters, shaking from the intensity of his nightmare while sweat runs down his back and torso.

He jerks around to face her in horrified surprise. No one is supposed to see him like this. Rey for her part, pays no mind to his emotions as she runs straight at him and presses both hands against his chest. The wild beating of his heart soothes the fear inside her, that somehow without her feeling it, Ben Solo's heart had stopped beating. His heart, that is more precious to her than anyone else's.

"Was it a memory or a figment of the nightmare?" She asks, staring at the contrast of her small, tanned hands splayed out against the broad, pale expanse of his chest. Ben isn't able to answer out loud but the words flow into her mind through their bond. _'A memory.'_

"When?" Slowly, tentatively Ben brings his own shaking hands up and covers Rey's. _'After Luke tried to murder me.'_ Again the answer just seems to flow into her without a conscious thought from Ben.

"How are you still alive?" This time the thought is practically spat out. _'Snoke wasn't done using me.'_

The memory finishes playing out in her head, the lightsaber ripped from his hands by the power of Snoke's mind, powerful shocks of Force lightning ripping through his body until he passed out from the pain, waking up a day later in a cage and being kept there for weeks while Snoke continued to manipulate and mold his mind into what he needed. Only being let out once Snoke was sure all thoughts of suicide were forcefully and painfully stamped out of his mind. Self-harm wasn't ruled out, in fact Rey learns Snoke encouraged Ben to hurt himself, it helped the torn, young man draw from The Dark.

Rey closes her eyes and tries to stop the tears from leaking out but they drip down her cheeks anyway. That this broken man, after everything he's endured, can still show any kind of empathy and kindness at all is a testament to the strength of his soul. A lesser person would be a true monster by now, incapable of building any kind of real, lasting connection. The strength of Ben Solo's heart is achingly beautiful, and tragic.

When she looks up at him his eyes are soft and open at first but unbeknownst Rey the heartbroken look on her face and the tears falling from her eyes only remind him of the last time he let himself be vulnerable with her, and the pain of her rejection and abandonment comes roaring to the front. His eyes go hard and the hands that were a comforting warmth, shift and tighten around her wrists. He removes her hands from their place over his heart and gives her a small push back until they are an arm's length away from each other.

"Go." The word comes out horse and shaky as he lets go of her wrists and crosses his arms over his chest, looking down at her.

"Ben-"

"Ben Solo is as dead as his father, you would do well to remember that Jedi."

"I'm not a Jedi." And she's not, as much light as there is in her there is also too much dark to ever be a true Jedi.

"Technicality. You are the Light, and I am the Dark, we're enemies."

"There can be no light without dark, nor dark without light. We are not enemies, we are the natural order of life, we are the two sides of the same entity. We are the balance."

"There is no we. You are nothing to me but another dead Jedi." His hard, angry eyes are last thing she sees before she's flung without warning from his mind.

Rey tries desperately to bring forth anger at him once they're separated. Anger for his cruel words and cold demeanor but every time she does drag any form of anger, the absolute hopelessness and self loathing that Ben felt when he tried to take his own life flashes in her mind's eye, and all her anger shifts to the people that were supposed to keep him safe and make him feel loved. She's left with nothing but sympathy for the lost boy and heartbreak for the broken man he's become. She aches for him in a way she doesn't think anyone, not even his own family, has ever ached for him. The hollow feeling in his heart echoes her own loneliness and Rey decides right then that she will not rest until Ben Solo comes home to her, so they can help each other heal from a lifetime of being abandoned and abused.

* * *

His resolve, it seems is more than a match for her own, for as much as she slams against the block he's put up, it doesn't budge. Over two weeks pass this way before she can't take it anymore, and so she stays awake one night long after lights out on the base. While waiting she forces herself to meditate, and monitors the bond but doesn't touch it. Hours pass before she finally feels his walls slowly crumble around his mind as he falls asleep. She slips along their bond the way she used to wrecks on Jakku, cautiously and silently.

The sight that meets her eyes was not what she wanted to see. Ben Solo thrashes amongst the black sheets on his bed in the obvious throes of a nightmare. She had kept herself hidden from him and in doing so kept him hidden from herself as well. Rey lets the bond open just a fraction and nearly doubles over at the turmoil that plagues his mind. Guilt, rage, fear, love, pain, and lust war inside him, and Rey is at the epicenter of it all. Her face flashes in his mind's eye, as every moment between them plays out in his dreams, being twisted by his subconscious to over play his worst qualities. His own damaged mind is making him into a monster because he fears that's all that's left of him.

He's so broken Rey doesn't stop to think, she just reaches out to him both through their bond and physically. He jerks awake when her hand cups his cheek, his dark eyes wide and terrified when they meet hers. They stare at each other for a long, tense moment before his eyes fall shut and his head drops back onto his pillow. Rey pulls her hand away when his skin slides out of reach. His voice when he speaks is weary and listless.

"Have you come to finish what Skywalker couldn't?" The words are like a knife to her soul. He thinks she could kill him, after everything.

"Just do it, I'm... tired."

"Ben no. I couldn't." His answering laugh is as cold and sharp as an icicle. When he reaches out, his lightsaber flies into his hand and then he's pressing it into her hand.

"Avenge Han Solo and Skywalker. I'm the one responsible for their deaths. Stop me before I go after FN-2187 or Dameron, you are the only one capable. Just... finish it." He's egging her on, nudging her with the Force. Rey squeezes her eyes shut for a moment and throws the lightsaber to the floor.

"No. I came to talk and deliver a message." His dark eyes glare at her as he finally stands up from the bed before he turns his back on her.

"Either end it here and now, or get out. I'm done with you."

"Ben please-"

"That. Is. Not. My. Name." His shoulders tense visibly as the words are gritted out.

"It's the name your mother gave you! Your mother who loves you and wants you to come home."

"What home? Ben Solo never had a home, they were always too busy with everything else in the Galaxy to give him a real home. Or maybe she means the Jedi Temple where his uncle tried to kill him in his sleep? Is that the home she means?"

"Home doesn't have to be a place, it can be people."

"I have no people. I am now as I've always been, alone."

"Ben..." Rey trails off, trying to find the right word to soothe his pain.

"Ben Solo died the night Skywalker tried to murder him in his sleep. The pathetic fool tried to rise, to be resurrected but he forgot one important fact. He's never enough. There is always something more important than him, something that comes first. And so he died again but there will be no more rising from the ashes for him. There is only Supreme Leader Kylo Ren now."

"I don't believe that. There is light inside you, I feel it." He whirled around to face her, eyes flashing dangerously.

"You don't get it! The dark isn't just inside me, it is me. It's under my skin, in my blood, down to my bones!" As he screamed the words at her, he dropped to his knees and dug his nails into the flesh on his forearms, raking down. Blood dripped to the floor as he continuously tore at himself. Rey watched in horror as he ripped his arms to shreds and pulled out hair by the handfuls while screaming out his pain. In a fit of pure self loathing rage, he reached his hand out again and this time when the lightsaber flew into his hand he pressed it against his own heart for the second time in his life.

She felt a swell of panic press into her very soul and reached out with the Force, ripping the weapon from his hands before he could end himself. In the same breath she was rushing across the space between them, dropping to her own knees and pulling him into her arms. He half heartedly struggled against the hold before his whole frame just went limp. The screaming stopped and he sobbed into her neck, eventually his bloody arms wrapping around her and clinging as though she were the only thing keeping him alive. In that moment, she truly was.

Rey could feel the bond between them being stretched thin but she willed it to last longer. She pressed as much of her energy into keeping herself with him as she could. When the sobbing stopped, he starting talking again. Not the hysterical, rage fueled screams of before but quiet, barely there murmurs. She couldn't understand it at first and honestly wasn't even sure if Ben was aware he was talking out loud. After a while she started picking up on his words and realized that he was repeating the same four words over and over again. They broke her heart all over again.

"I'm weak, I'm nothing. I'm weak, I'm nothing." Rey pulled away from their embrace and framed his tear streaked face in her hands, making him look at her.

"Not to me." The echo of his own words seem to bring him back to reality. He swallows the knot in his throat and his hands fall limp at his sides.

"You shouldn't be here. I'm not... worth it."

"Yes you are. Stop trying to be Kylo Ren, the monster that Snoke tried to make you into and just be Ben, the good man that's buried underneath it all. The man who comforted me when I was at my lowest and laid years of abuse aside to save my life." Rey stopped for a moment, looking him deep in the eyes as she gathered the courage to speak the words in her heart.

"Ben, be my home and let me be yours. Please."

The shuddering breath he releases gives her hope, as does the single word he speaks. "Home?"

"Yes, home."

Then he shakes his head and Rey can feel him retreating into himself. She's surprised when his words come out calmly. "Monsters don't have homes."

"You are not a monster. Please Ben, just come home."

"I'm not enough Rey, I'm never enough." His words echo her own pain.

"You are for me."

"I wasn't before."

"I didn't want the galaxy, just you. Only you."

"They'll never accept me." She knows who he means and finds herself shaking her head.

"They'll follow Leia's lead, and mine." He still looks unsure and Rey can feel the connection fraying around the edges. "Ben I can't maintain the connection much longer but even if you decide not to come to me... promise me, swear to me on the Force you'll never try that again. Please, I can't lose you." Her voice breaks at the end, betraying the fear and panic she felt when he pressed the saber to his heart. He looks at her, really looks at her for the first time before he closes his eyes, Rey can feel the moment he combines his own energy with hers. The strain on her is immediately lifted, the connection solid once again. When he opens his eyes, he looks determined and resolute.

"I can't come to you-" Rey feels her heartbeat stutter and starts to pull away but Ben only pulls her closer. "-yet. I have to make sure that you're safe. I'll find you when it is, as soon as I can."

"Ben, your promise?"

He takes her hands in his bloody ones and presses them against his heart. "Never again. It's yours, to do with as you wish."

Rey finds words are lost on her in that moment as his own words take purchase inside her, down to her bones. The words that are stuck in her throat, float around her mind and through the bond. _'He is mine, all of him, the good and the bad. Every flawed, broken piece of him belongs to me.'_

"Yes, I am." He agrees with her thoughts and Rey finds herself blushing. She didn't mean to project that to him. "Don't be embarrassed. I think I've been yours for a lot longer than either of us wants to admit."

"I'm yours too, all of me."

Ben let's the familiar Solo smirk cross his features. "I know."

The tension that's run through her body since he woke up seems to melt away in the presents of his cocky, almost boyish smirk. She smiles up at him. The smirk fades after a few quiet moments and he looks serious again.

"You should go. I have things that I need to start doing here and it's hard to focus on anything but you when you're here."

"Are you saying I'm a distraction Ben Solo?"

"From the very first moment I laid eyes on you." He doesn't smile again but there is a lightness in his eyes that wasn't there before. On impulse Rey leans in, but before their lips can connect Ben pulls back.

"I want to, believe me I do but not yet. Not until all this is behind us and we're together, really together. I want to hold you in my arms, for real. I want to come home to you."

"Okay, just don't take too long. I've missed you."

"And I've missed you. I'll see you soon Rey, no matter where you go I'll find you."

"I'm counting on that." They both let go of the bond and it dissolves naturally. Rey climbs back into her bed, physically and emotionally exhausted but feeling more hopeful than she ever has in her entire life.

She falls back asleep with a smile on her lips, and across the galaxy so does Ben.

* * *

 **There's one last chapter to wrap it all up, it should be up in the next couple of days.**


	3. Open Door

**A/N: Last chapter. Big thank you to anyone who reviewed and thanks to anyone that simply read and enjoyed it!**

* * *

The rumors start a few days after Ben's breakdown in Rey's arms, rumors that Supreme Leader Kylo Ren is planning something. Something big. He's called all his top officers and his council to him for a meeting of the minds. When they return to their posts a week later and start calling in the troops, people start wondering why. The Rebellion starts to worry that maybe his plan is to overwhelm their enemies, focus large hords of storm troopers and decimate everything in their path.

Leia takes one look at Rey's smirk and knows there is nothing to worry about. Her son is coming home.

A few more days pass, more systems and planets are reporting a withdraw of First Order troops. It takes nearly two weeks for every single storm trooper to return to their First Order command ship but when they do, Ben Solo's plan is revealed. While the ships' crews sleep their commanders -under direct and specific orders from Kylo Ren via intense and repeated Jedi Mind Trick- turn off all alarms, put the entire ship into lock down, and initiate the self destruct mode. In a matter of hours, every First Order vessel is blown up from the inside and with them, nearly every piece of the First Order is demolished. Ben doesn't wait around for his own vessel to blow, he's off in hyper speed across the galaxy.

Rey is in the middle of helping a couple of kids serve food onto their trays when she feels him through the Force. It's been two months since the First Order self-destructed, two momont of silence through their bond, two months of Rey traveling with Leia and the former Rebellion helping planets recover from being under of First Order's thumb, and two months of rumors that someone with lightsaber is working their way across the galaxy eradicating anyone with ties to the First Order. Across the room her eyes meet Leia's and they share a smile. Quickly but as calmly as she can manage Rey crosses the room and starts walking towards the hanger. She knows he won't land in there but he'll find a place close enough to walk.

She sees him at the tree line of the small base, dark grey cloak over black clothes. He looks lighter, free and most of all he looks almost happy. He takes a few tentative steps forward but Rey is passed being cautious, it's been over two months and she's missed him fiercely. She runs at him full speed and throws her arms around his neck, laughing as he wraps his arms around her waist and picks her up off the ground, her feet dangling as they clutch each other desperately.

"I've missed you so much Ben." With her face buried in his neck, her words are muffled but he hears them.

"Not a day has gone by that I haven't thought of you and missed you deeply." His reply is whispered softly into her ear. He sets her back down on her feet and they drink each other in, making the moment last. It's the sound of the door that Rey used opening again that breaks their eyes from each other. They both look and find Leia staring at Ben as though her whole world is being set right. Rey steps away from Ben and gives him a little nudge with the Force.

"Talk to your mom Ben, I'll be right here when you're ready."

He nods and swallows the knot in his throat as he slowly walks towards his mother. Their brown eyes stay locked on each other until Ben stands directly in front Leia. Without a word he kneels before his mother and pulls out his lightsaber, presenting it to her with his head bowed.

"I've taken from you and hurt you. I am in your debt. I pledge myself to you and your cause." Leia looks down at her son for a long moment before she takes the lightsaber (the very one that ended her husband's life) and lowers herself to her knees. The lightsaber clatters to the ground as she cups Ben's face in her hands, and makes him look at her as she speaks.

"You are my son, and you owe me nothing. Yes we've failed each other but we will be better. All I need now is for you to be safe and happy, and home. Have you come home Ben Solo?"

"Yes mother."

"Then I have all that I need."

"I'm so sorry mom." The words barely make it passed his lips before he begins sobbing in his mother's arms. They cling to each other as they mourn Han, both finally able to put him to rest now that they have each other again.

"I know Ben, I know." Leia chokes the words out through her tears, holding her boy to her with every ounce of strength she has in her. The Force flows through them and all around them, connecting them in a way that they haven't felt since Ben was a small child. Neither are aware of how much time has passed but when they eventually pull away, Rey is still a few feet away, her own tears falling freely.

Ben stands and helps his mother to her feet, releasing Leia only to hold out his arms to Rey, who crosses the short distance between them and wraps herself around him. Leia watches them with a watery smile on her face as they give and receive comfort from each other. She can feel the Force, in perfect balance as they hold each other. They are the hope for the future, not only for the Force but for the galaxy.

"Ben I'll have a room set up for you." Leia says once they let go of reach other, only to interlock their fingers.

"Oh that's not necessary." Rey says quickly before clamping her mouth shut when Leia and Ben give her the same amused look. Rey feels her face heating up, that didn't come out the way she meant it to.

"I only meant he'd probably be more comfortable on the Falcon, away from the others for now."

"On the Falcon? The same place that you've been sleeping?"

"I didn't mean it like... that." Rey tries to defend, feeling the blush crawl down her neck.

"Mhmm. At least let me see you married before you make me a grandmother." Ben's eyes widen and he feels heat creep up his face to his ears.

"Mother!" He hisses. It was cute when Rey was flustered but not so much when his mother does it to him. Leia smirks at her son and (for all intents and purposes) her future daughter in law as she turns to head back into the base. She and Ben will have time to talk and heal old wounds but right now she can sense he needs Rey. The two young Force users watch her leave them in peace, once the door closes behind her Ben turns back to Rey.

"I'm sor-" He doesn't get further than that because Rey drops his hand to grab two fists full of his hair and pull him down into their first kiss. It's not sweet and innocent, it's sloppy and hurried and just a little bit desperate. They hold each other so tightly its borderline painful as their lips stay locked together for a long time. They separate with a gasp, both sucking in gulps of oxygen as they continue to cling to each other. It's as they are catching their breaths that Rey becomes aware that her feet are no longer on the ground but instead are locked behind Ben's back with her legs wrapped around his waist.

"Rey..."

"I should have kissed you in that elevator when I had the chance." The words surprise him and Ben let's out a little laugh. Rey feels her heart expand at the sound of his laugh and vows to spend the rest of her life making him laugh as often as possible.

"I might have combusted on the spot from pure shock."

"There are worse ways to go."

"Don't I know it." His voice drops even lower as he leans back in, slowly this time, intent to show her more than just physical attraction with their next kiss. Just as his lips brush delicately against Rey's, the door to the base opens again. They both look and are simultaneously relieved that it's not Leia who catches then in such an intimate moment and worried that it's Finn. Rey unwinds her legs from around Ben and lowers her feet back to the ground.

"Finn."

"You've explained Rey, I get it. I don't particularly like it but I get it and if he makes you happy, I'll accept it." Finn smiles at her but when he shifts his gaze to Ben his eyes go cold.

"You've done a lot of bad things-" Ben interrupts him.

"I've done terrible, unforgivable things and I don't deserve her, not even a little bit. And I know I can't even begin to make up for any of it but I can try. I can spend the rest of my life doing as much good as I can, protecting as many innocents as I can, and making Rey as happy as humanly possible. You and I will probably never be friends but I don't want us to be enemies either. So here's my olive branch."

Ben pauses here and holds out a small data disk. "I gathered as much information as the First Order had on you, I dug through every scrap of data we had and this is everything I could find. Perhaps with a little help and some searching you can find your family. It may not pan out but it's better than nothing." Finn stares at the small piece of plastic and metal in Ben's hand, it could potentially contain his past and his future. With a shaky hand he takes it and looks up at the other man, genuine tears in his eyes.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do this but you did anyway, and you will never understand how much it means that you did."

"You're welcome. And thank you too, you could have made Rey choose between us but you didn't. You're a better man than I'll ever be." Rey takes it upon herself to step up and hug Finn, knowing that her friend needs it. While the two men in front of her might not ever be friends, at least they can be respectful and cordial, for her sake.

"You're not wrong Kylo." It's Poe standing in the doorway, watching the scene unfold with sharp eyes.

"His name is Ben." Rey says as she goes back to Ben's side and takes hold of his hand again. Poe ignores her and continues to address Ben.

"You'll never be as good a person as Finn... but at least you are trying. It's not enough for me to like you but it is enough for me to start respecting you and to leave you to yourself. If only for Leia and Rey."

"It's more than I deserve, Dameron." Poe gives him a long, even look before nodding and turning to go back inside.

"You coming Finn? Or do you plan on standing there watching Rey make out with Solo?"

"Aww hell no! Wait up, don't lock me out here with them!" Finn jogs after Poe and they can be heard talking and laughing as the door shuts behind them.

"Ben-" Before Rey can finish her sentence Ben holds his hand up to silence her.

"You can come out, I know you're there." Rey watches as Ben turns to face the tree line, his face tense with nerves. Slowly Chewbacca emerges from the woods and walks towards Ben. Neither speak as they come face to face for the first time since Han's death. Chewie brings a furry hand up and traces the scar down Ben's face, with a tenderness Rey wasn't even aware he had in him. He can be kind yes but tender just wasn't something Rey associated with the Wookie.

"I'm sorry I took him from you. I wish I could go back and change what happened, embrace the light sooner to save him but I can't. His death will haunt me the rest of my life and I'll understand if your hatred is paired with my guilt."

Chewie takes one of Ben's hands in his and places it over his own heart while placing his furry hand over Ben's heart. The wookie bring his head down to rest against Ben's. Without words, Chewie has shown Ben not only forgiveness and kindness but love as well. After a few moments Chewie pulls Ben into a crushing hug before reaching out and yanking Rey into the hug as well.

After a long time Chewie releases them and leaves, his fuzzy face is wet with tears as he walks towards the base, most likely to find Leia. The two old friends have much to talk about. Ben and Rey are still holding onto each other tightly as they watch him go. Once he's out of sight Rey turns her face up to look at Ben. Reaching out she cups his cheek and directs his eyes to hers.

"Ben?"

"This, all of this, is more than I expected and more than I deserve. I've been alone, and lost, and angry for so long... I don't think I know how to be happy."

"We'll figure it out. For now, let's just go to the Falcon and get some rest."

"And then?"

"Then we find a place to call home. Together." Ben's lips quirk up at the corners, and he smiles at her softly.

"I was home the moment I was in your arms." Any small shred of doubt or unease seems to melt away at his words and the affection she feels pouring off him through the Force.

"Me too Ben." This time when he leans in, there are no interruptions and their lips meet softly. It's a slow exploration of each other, with lips and tongues sliding and tasting. When they pull away Ben feels the urge to say those three little words but holds off. They have time now, and he wants it to be perfect, like she is. So he settles for sliding his hand into hers and following along as she leads him to their future.

* * *

 **Thanks again to anyone who read this (or any of my other stuff)! I actually have another Reylo story in the works, barely started so it might be a but before it's posted.**

 **And if anyone who has read my Charloe content is wondering about the stories I promised to post, they are coming I've just been busy and my newest obsession kind of bumped it, so keep a look out!**


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